


I Just Want to Protect You

by Pearl_Unplanned



Series: Cap_Ironman Bingo 2016 (1) [9]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Cap_Ironman Bingo, Getting Together, Hurt Steve Rogers, Hurt Tony Stark, Injury, M/M, Protective Steve Rogers, Stony Bingo, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 15:21:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7273465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearl_Unplanned/pseuds/Pearl_Unplanned
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I can't move." Tony's voice was quiet, far quieter than he usually spoke. There was a hint of panic that Steve wasn't used to, because Tony was the most brash, fearless man he knew. "Cap, the suit's down. I-I can't get it open. I can't move."</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Just Want to Protect You

**Author's Note:**

> My [Bingo board](https://41.media.tumblr.com/84f56fc5ea3e2b7a950dc1a599eb99c7/tumblr_o1uqc81QEE1tewqllo1_540.png) is there, and this fic is for S5, the bottom left picture.  
> I totally meant to post these sooner... how am I ever going to catch up?

 

            The impact was a lot more than Steve had actually been expecting. He groaned, rubbing his head. For a second, he couldn't remember what exactly it was that had happened. There was a pounding in the back of his head that made everything seem… blurry. But then he remembered the way that he'd been trying to fight off those robots, and Tony had just shown up to back him up... Steve glanced over to the side, head still pounding, and was glad to see that Tony was still beside him. Good. Now all he had to do was make sure that his teammate was still breathing.

            In his ear, Steve could hear the crackle of his comm., a little more static-y than normal since it _had_ just been slammed into the ground. Tony would fix it. Tony hated seeing technology that was broken, and even if it wasn't his, he had trouble _not_ fixing it.

            "Hey, Iron Man," Steve murmured, because they were still in the field, so they all had to continue to use codenames. "You still with me?"

            "I can't move." Tony's voice was quiet, far quieter than he usually spoke. There was a hint of panic that Steve wasn't used to, because Tony was the most brash, fearless man he knew. "Cap, the suit's down. I-I can't get it open. I can't move."

            "Hang on, I'll get it open," Steve murmured, but it was hard to roll over. He was sure that he'd hit his head, pretty hard, and he was having some trouble concentrating on anything at the moment.

            The light on Tony's chest was still just as bright as ever, so he wasn't worried about that. While he didn't know much about the arc reactor, since Tony kept it mostly hidden and didn't like to talk about it to anyone, he did know that the spinning light meant that it was working. Steve understood not wanting to talk about it, since it was pretty personal. It _was_ embedded in his chest, after all, and he'd had some trouble in the past with people trying to rip it out of his chest and leaving him to die.

            Most people didn't even know that much. Steve had just been around Tony enough when he was drunk to hear things that he shouldn't probably have heard when he dragged Tony off to his bed.

            "Please hurry," Tony whispered, and that actually shocked Steve. He wasn't sure he'd ever heard Tony say please to _anyone_ before. Maybe Pepper, but he wasn't even sure about that one.

            "Just hang on a moment," Steve said, though his vision was still blurry as he tried to get over Tony. "Mind if it breaks?"

            "No." Tony's voice sounded so monotone that it was starting to actually scare Steve some. Gripping either side of the chest-plate, Steve pulled as hard as he was able to, but then his head was spinning again and he had to stop. Steve pinched his eyes closed, biting his lip, before he paused and took a deep breath.

            "Okay, it might take more than a minute. I think I hit something a little too hard," Steve muttered, gripping either side of the chest-plate again. "I thought you said there was a latch here, Tony! It's supposed to come undone..."

            Pulling again, Steve definitely dented the metal, but it didn't come undone, which meant that something in the lock was broken, and he wouldn't be getting that off anything soon.

            "Something's stuck, Iron Man. Is there a latch on the inside you can pull?" Steve asked, trying again.

            "No, it broke. I just... I can't be stuck in here, Steve, I can't. I don't like being trapped," Tony said, and wow, if he was using Steve's actual name, then he must've really been panicking. What was wrong? They weren’t in danger, not at the moment. As long as the suit wasn’t killing him, then there shouldn’t have been a problem.

            "Just stay calm. I'll figure this out," Steve said. It was difficult to concentrate on anything, but he had to do this. Tony was counting on him right now. So he went for a different tactic. Gripping the faceplate, he made sure to get enough grip on it to dent it some, and then he ripped the faceplate right off of the Iron Man armor.

            Tony was a genius. He was smart, arrogant, narcissistic, loud-mouthed, and not shy and quiet in in any way. Steve had never seen Tony act so scared before.

            "Tony?" Steve murmured, and Tony's eyes finally looked over at him.

            "I'm fine," Tony gasped, though judging by the deep breathing he was anything but at the moment. His face was white, like he’d seen a ghost, and his eyes were still very wide and scared. "You okay, Cap? You don't look so good."

            "Hit my head, I just need a moment. It's already healing, I can feel it," Steve murmured. It took him a moment to realize that he was straddling the Iron Man armor, right at the hips. He could feel his face heating up a little bit. "Sorry, I know this looks weird, but I need the leverage."

            "No, you're fine, I'm a lot better now that the faceplate's off," Tony said, though he was still breathing deeply, and there was still a look of panic on his face.

            "What's wrong? You aren't in any pain, right?" Steve asked, leaning forward a little so that he was able to concentrate on Tony easier.

            "No pain," Tony assured him, though Steve could tell that was a lie. Maybe not physical pain, but Tony _was_ in pain. He could see it written all over Tony's face.

            "I'm going to get you out of here," Steve promised, gripping the armor again. Wow was it stuck.

            "I made it stronger last time I was in the lab," Tony laughed nervously. "...didn't want villains to be able to get into the suit. I never really thought I'd need you to get me out of it."

            "I'm strong enough, I'll get it," Steve murmured, taking a deep breath. The panic was completely gone from Tony's face. "You are going to have to talk about this though. I'd rather not have you get stuck like this again while I'm not around, but actually _have_ a panic attack."

            "I don't have panic..." Tony tried to deny, but after a moment he seemed to understand that he couldn't lie to Steve. "Fine. I'm not panicking now, see? I'm fine. You aren't fine though, because you still look like you're in pain."

            "I'll be fine in a minute, and I've almost got this off," Steve murmured, getting a grip on the armor again before he managed to pull the chest-plate off. In the process, Steve ended up stumbling backward, falling completely off of the Iron Man armor.

            "Thank you," Tony gasped, and before Steve could really move, he was surprised to find the genius wrapping his arms around him. "Thank you," Tony repeated, and Steve wrapped an arm around him so that he could pat Tony on the back.

            "No problem, Shellhead," Steve mumbled. He was confused when Tony took his shield, but before he was able to ask, Tony moved in front of him, lifted the shield... Steve wrapped his arms around Tony's legs, holding him in place so that he wasn't thrown by the force of the blast. Steve was even more impressed when Tony tossed the shield, knocking the head right off of the robot.

            "Nice shot," Steve said. Tony's whole face seemed to light up with the praise. He shouldn't have been surprised when Tony easily caught the shield again.

            "Come on, Cap. You're hurt, I'm next to defenseless, and we probably shouldn't still be standing here," Tony said, and Steve nodded. Staying here would be bad.  Steve let Tony drag him away from the battle. He didn't even know when Tony took his comm.

            "Hey guys," Tony said, speaking into the comm. "Cap took a real bad hit, and my suit is gone. We're out for now."

            "No problem Iron Man, we've got this handled," Clint replied back. Steve let himself relax, knowing that his team wasn't in danger.

            After checking to make sure that there were no robots had followed them, Tony made him sit down so that he could check Steve's head.

            "It'll heal," Steve insisted.

            "I need to make you some better armor," Tony muttered. Sighing, he added, "You're right, you're already healing. You'll be fine."

            "Will you?" Steve asked quietly, and Tony looked at him sharply. Steve winced. "I'm just concerned, Tony. I've never seen you panic like that."

            "I'm fine," Tony snapped. "I just... don't like being stuck. If I can't move... it's happened once. I was frozen, I couldn't move. M-my arc reactor was taken... a-and I couldn't move..."

            It wasn't because he felt pity that he embraced Tony. No, it was because Steve wanted to take all Tony's pain away. Tony seemed surprised by it, and Steve couldn't have been happier that Tony didn't just pull away from him.

            "I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you," Steve whispered. He hated how much pain Tony had already been through, pain that he wasn't able to take away.

            Tony laughed quietly, patting Steve's back. "Sorry bud, but you were frozen at the time. Nothing you could've done if you _tried_."

            They stayed like that for a while, Tony held tightly in Steve's arms, neither really wanting to move. Tony eventually rested his head against Steve's shoulder. Steve hoped that Tony couldn't hear how fast his heart was beating.

            "I just want to protect you," Steve whispered, not meaning to say anything more. Tony stiffened, and Steve started cursing himself in his head. Great, he'd ruined it. He loosened his grip on the genius just in case Tony wanted to pull away from him and not come near him again.

            Instead of pulling away, though, Tony just cleared his throat until Steve actually looked over at him.

            "You can't protect me, Steve. I'm a superhero, I go off and fight villains knowing that I could get hurt or die, those are choices I make. There's nothing that you can do to protect me all of the time. I have to make my own mistakes, and boy do I have a lot to make," Tony said, not letting Steve look away from him. "When have you ever cared about me so much that you want to protect me, Steve?"

            "...Always?" Steve asked. He wished that he could just stop talking already. He couldn't get away even if he wanted to, because Tony was currently _sitting on his lap._ Oh God when did that happen? Steve could feel his face turning redder and warmer.

            "Really? So you wouldn't mind if I...?" Tony leaned forward, and Steve felt like he was dreaming as Tony kissed him.

            He wasn't even sure if it was happening or not. His eyes were closed, and it wasn't until he opened them again and saw Tony staring at him...

            "Steve? Was that okay?" Tony whispered.

            "You just..."

            "Kissed you. Yeah, okay, now I know that that's a _no_ —"

            Tony wasn't able to finish his sentence as Steve leaned forward kissed Tony again. He'd hoped that Tony would be interested. He'd been hoping that for a long time now. It wasn't like Tony never flirted with him—but then again, Tony flirted with everyone. He'd been just trying to protect Tony, and be the best teammate he could be. But _now_...

            "I must've hit my head too hard," Steve whispered, "because I'm seeing things."

             Tony laughed nervously. "No, you're not _that_ injured. So I take it that you're fine with this, and we can... maybe... do this more? Later?"

            Steve could only nod and pull Tony back into his arms. "Definitely," he whispered.

            He let Tony go, watching the man pull himself to his feet before offering Steve a hand. Tony put his other hand up to the comm. on his ear and said, "Hey guys, we're on our way back to the tower. You've got everything wrapped up, right? I don't hear any robots destroying the city."

            "Oh no, things ended pretty soon after you two left," Clint said.

            "I would suggest to get your wound checked out, Steve," Natasha said, knowing that Steve would be able to hear their conversation, "but I think you two have... other things, to be doing."

            "What?" Tony choked out.

            "Next time," Clint laughed, "remember to turn your comm. off before you start confessing your love to one another. If you don't, you'll just have to deal with our teasing. And believe me, it's going to last for a _long_ time."

            Tony groaned, and Steve couldn't help but smile. They'd be able to handle it. Steve leaned over and kissed Tony before swiping the comm. from his ear.

            "Hey guys, we'll be going off the grid, then, for... a couple hours?" Steve glanced over at Tony to see if he'd agree. The grin that crossed Tony's face was enough of an answer.


End file.
